Constructivism

I teach History to 5-8th graders and often cover wars or other world changing events. The World War II activity discussed in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works obviously appealed to me. I find it challenging to summarize the events and changes World War II brought to the world in a unit that consists of month or two, or possibly even shorter. Personally enjoying World War II, I could spend a whole semester or year on the events and changes World War II brought. Being able to introduce topics or resources that could supplement the lesson would help students gain a better understanding of the causes of war and changes it can bring. In the past we have used the game Risk to show impact of War and the strategy behind it. Implementing new ways and avenues that students find interesting would only help the learning process. The book discusses how constructivism helps students learn together, through each other and take an active role in the learning process. Board games or gaming in general, allows the students to take an active leadership role in the learning process because of the responsibilities the game places on the players. Being responsible for a country’s well-being at home and abroad and during war times, gives the students a resemblance of what goes on within a country during war. The hands on approach I believe when supplemented with some background knowledge would allow students the opportunity to take away more information from the unit and better understand the events and changes of World War II.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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Using cues, questions, and advance organizers helps students use the information they learn about a topic and make sense of the information.  They will be able to focus more on the topic when they information is well organized and easy to grasp.  As teacher we need to focus on what is important and get this information across to our students.  When trying to get students to focus in on a topic we need to make sure we are asking challenging and thought provoking questions.  This will elicit deeper learning on a topic.  I particularly liked the idea of bringing in the challenging questions to the classroom and see the difference between questions that encourage student critical thinking skills and those that do not.  Note taking is a skill that all students need to develop and it is obvious that it is a work in progress.  Teaching students multiple ways of note taking and preparing them with different avenues will help student performance.  At our school we try and implement Cornell Notes as the main form of note taking.  It has a structured format and allows for summary and reflection portions.  However, implementing or discussing different ways of note taking will encourage students to discover what way works best for them and can use guidelines for their selection.  Students should focus on notes quality and realize that taking verbatim notes is very ineffective.  The more notes students can take the better they will be prepared for future assignments on those particular notes.  Reviewing notes will ensure students have a grasp of the lesson’s content.

 

 

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Behaviorism

Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to monitor progress on reports, projects or daily lessons.  The ability to see immediate accomplishments as well as provide feedback increases with technology use inside the classroom.  Informing parents of student achievement or behavior can be an everyday thing with the advancement of technology.  Email is not the only avenue of classroom and community interaction.  Classroom blogs are becoming more popular and allow parents and students to stay involved outside of school.   Varying approaches on how we respond to student work and providing them with multiple learning opportunities will help ensure student success.  “Typically, students need about 24 practice sessions with a skill in order to achieve 80-percent competency” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).With most things in order to see success students need to put forth solid effort in order to reap the benefits of technology uses.   We can't expect kids to use word or excel spreadsheet and hope they understand it in one sitting.  Like most learners they need enough time in order to develop the skill and then produce work with the skill.  Providing students with the time to learn will benefit the classroom in the long run.   If students are giving a solid effort and they are providing enough chances to understand and use the skill, they should have a great shot at transferring the skills into our classrooms and workplaces.  By teaching students the importance of effort and being able to monitor effort and achievement we can hopefully produce a solid experience inside the classroom. 

 

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.